Critical Condition
by Amy-Weaver
Summary: Kerry is dying from the result of a car accident. The ER will never be the same!
1. Pain That's Delt

"Critical Condition"  
  
By: FeLicia Hoskinson  
  
Chapter One: Pain that's Dealt  
  
Story Information: A car wreck kills the ER chief. There's a long road ahead.  
  
Chapter One: Information: Kerry Weaver gets into a car wreck and Elizabeth reflects on what she said in the past.  
  
Disclaimers: I do not own any ER characters. TPTB, Leave it to be!  
  
Note to Readers: This is very sad. I even made many Weaver haters cry.  
  
Date: 5-3-07 (Note the year is 2007) Time: 5:32 PM CT Location: Cook County General Hospital- Chicago, IL- ER (After car accident)  
  
"I am so sorry Sandy, I'm so sorry.," Elizabeth said, running at the pace Sandy was down the hallway. "Just let me see her!" "They are fixing to take her up to surgery. You might as well wait." "I'M NOT WAITING! LET ME SEE HER." Elizabeth realized she could not stop her from wanting to see Kerry. "OK, Are you sure?" "Yes, I am sure!" "OK, Let me go ahead and warn you. We had to intibate her. She has many tubes running out of her, Including a chest tube. Are you sure?" "Yes I am Dr. Corday.. Just please!" Elizabeth took her to Trauma Two, Where Carter and Susan were about to move Kerry up to surgery. "Wait.," Elizabeth replied to them. "We have no time.," Susan responded. "Sandy is here. All she wants is a few minutes." They stepped out of the room for a few minutes. "OK Sandy.," Elizabeth replied. Sandy entered. Her jaw dropped at the sight of Kerry. "Oh my god, Kerry." Sandy ran to her side and took her hand. "Kerry I'm here." Elizabeth walked close. "We are taking her up to surgery to repair her spleen. She also nicked her liver, So that has to be repaired. There was only a little bit of blood in her chest cavity, So we did not have to crack her." "Thank god. Is she gonna be OK?," Sandy asked. "Right now, Its 50/50. We need to get her up to surgery now!" "OK. Please get me when she gets out." "OK Sandy, I will." Sandy let go of Kerry's hand. Kerry was wheeled out of the trauma room and up to the OR. Sandy parted up in a second direction, towards daycare.  
  
An hour has passed in the OR. "OK, I've removed the spleen. I need to move on to the liver.," Elizabeth said. "You need to get her off the table soon, Dr. Corday. Her body is not going to tolerate any more blood loss.," Dr. Babcock replied. "Let me at least fix the liver." "She has went into v-fib twice. You know that you should have gotten her off the table." "I've got to save her, god damn it! I have to, It will be my fault if I don't." "And Why?," Babcock asked. "I said something in the past that I should have not said. I don't want her to die. I'd feel guilty for the rest of my life." Elizabeth kept on with the surgery. "Do you see how many CC'S she has lost? It is soon to add up to liters if you don't get her off the table soon." "I'm almost done." Elizabeth tied the last stitch. "There.. I'm finished. Lets close."  
  
It has been ten minutes after closing Kerry's abdomen. Elizabeth walked over to the waiting room. When she entered, She spotted Sandy, Who was holding a little girl in her lap. "Is she OK? How is she?," Sandy asked. "Well, We were able to repair her liver. But we had to remove her spleen. We had some complications with the surgery, so she is in ICU. With all the blood loss it does not look like a promising outcome. If she does come out of this there might be some permanent damage." Sandy gasped. She could not believe the words that came out of Elizabeth's mouth. "So she could die?" "The chance of her recovering is very slim.," Elizabeth replied, trying to hold her own tears. Sandy clinched her teeth, trying to hold back the tears and the fear. "Thank you doctor.," She replied. Elizabeth nodded and walked away. She over heard the conversation between the little girl and Sandy. "Momma, What's wrong with mommy?," The little girl asked. "Kara, Mommy is very sick." "Will she get better?" "She might."  
  
Elizabeth ran to the bathroom. She entered a stall, sat in front of the toilet, and cried. Susan entered and heard the crying. "Hello, Are you OK?," Susan asked, not knowing who was crying. Elizabeth recognized this voice and called out. "Susan, Im all right. It's just..." Susan recognized her voice. "Elizabeth.." Elizabeth got up an exited the stall. Susan looked at Elizabeth, Who was a total wreck. Susan grabbed a tissue from the tissue box and handed it to Elizabeth. "You wanna talk? Is it about Kerry?" "Yes. I feel like it's my fault, My fault that she is hurt, That she is dying." "Elizabeth, We both know it was not your fault. You did not hit her with your car. Its not you fault." Elizabeth turned to Susan. "Yes it is. A few years ago I told her something hateful. She made Mark take competency tests after his operation. She was looking after him and his patients, and I thought she was trying to find a way to get rid of him. So, I told her that if she ever had a terminal illness that I hope that I was her doctor so I can do nothing to help her. And now a child is gonna lose a mom, a spouse is gonna lose her other." "I agree, those words were quite harsh. But I don't think you wished her to be in a car accident. It's not your fault." "But." "Just think about it Elizabeth. You'll realize that it's not your fault. You might live with the guilt, but it is not your fault." "Thank you Susan." "Anytime Elizabeth.," Susan replied. Susan left the bathroom, Leaving Elizabeth alone. 


	2. Truth and Death

Critical Condition  
  
Chapter two: Truth and Death  
  
Disclaimers: I don't own any ER characters. TPTB, Leave it to be. Note to readers: Continuation of the "Critical Condition" series.  
  
Date: 5/3/07 Time: 7:49 PM CT Location: Cook County General- Chicago, IL- ER  
  
After crying all the tears, Elizabeth left the bathroom. She decided to go and visit Kerry to see how she is doing. She stopped at the front desk. "Carter, I'm going to go visit Kerry. I'll be back with some news." "All right," Carter replied, his eyes puffy red. She walked over and boarded the elevators, allowing it to take her to the ICU ward. Once there, She got off and walked to Kerry's room. She entered to find Sandy, Holding Kerry's hand. She also noticed little Kara was asleep in the chair next to her. She walked up to Sandy and put a hand on her shoulder. Sandy turned around to see Elizabeth. "Sandy, How are you holding up?" "I'm OK Dr. Corday. I really wanna know about the accident though." "No one told you about it?" "No." Elizabeth took another chair and sat down. "She came in, all ready in v-fib, with a tube down her throat. We were all shocked. What shocked us more was she was in a car accident, And it was a drunk driver that hit her. It took them a wile to get her out of the car.. They had to use the Jaws of Life, So she came in, already down for twenty minutes. We worked on her for twenty minutes more. We about called it, but in a desperate attempt to save her I shocked her again. She went into sinus rhythm. Only problem is that her brain was deprived of oxygen and most of her blood volume was gone. We took her to the OR in desperate attempt to save her. We can replace the blood, but I am afraid she has permanent brain damage or she might be.. Might be brain dead." Sandy gasped. "So your saying she will either be mentally incapable or dead?" "Yes, But we can check that. I can unplug the respirator and give her 10 seconds to breathe. If she breathes then that tell us she has enough brain activity to tell her to breathe. If not, well. We consider her brain dead." "OK." Elizabeth walked over to the ET tube and unplugged it from the vent. She looked at her watch. Five seconds past. Six..Seven..Eight...Nine..Ten. Elizabeth replugged the tube back in to the respirator. Elizabeth looked up. Kerry did not even try to breathe. Elizabeth looked back down, trying to hide the tears. She then looked at Sandy, Who could not help but cry. "What do we do now Dr. Corday?," Sandy asked desperately. "There is nothing we can do. There is..sadly.. something you can do." "What?" "You can.. Sign...Sign a DNR order. It will allow her, if she goes into heart failure, to die peacefully." "And what if she does not?" "Then it's a matter of choosing when to take her off life support. I'm sure she would not want to be flogged on and on so there can be a miracle to happen. You would just be prolonging her life in a vegetative state.," Elizabeth replied, a few tears falling from her face. Sandy looked at her love, lying there, as pail and limp as can be. She then looked at little Kara, Who was sleeping peacefully in her chair. She then glanced back at Kerry. She knew Kerry would want to die peacefully. "OK, I'll sign the DNR.," Sandy replied, crying. "OK, Someone will come in with it. I assume you have Power of Attorney?" "Yes, I do." "All right." Elizabeth left the room and went to the front desk in ICU. "Room 2 needs an DNR.," Elizabeth replied, trying to keep it together. "OK Dr. Corday. Coming right up.," The nurse replied, acting like it was an everyday thing. Elizabeth realized the tone in his voice and could not help but say something. "Do you know who that is in there? She works in the ER. She is the Chief of Emergency Medicine for god's sake. She is also someone's spouse, someone's mother. She's dead! She was a great asset to this hospital. So next time don't act like its an everyday thing.," Elizabeth exclaimed. "I'm sorry Dr. Corday." "Yea, I'm sure you are." After saying this, Dr. Corday walked to the elevators. She pushed one.. She knew she had to tell the ER. It hit the bottom floor and the door opened. She exited through the doors and walked to the front desk. She noticed everyone, even people that were not on call, were gathered at the front desk, waiting for Elizabeth to get back. She walked over and took a deep breath. Everyone went quiet. "How is she?," Carter asked, a glimpse of hope in his eyes. Elizabeth looked down, tears streaming down her cheeks. She then looked up again. Carter looked at her face and knew it was not a good sign. "She's... She's brain...Brain dead.," Elizabeth replied, tears coming at full force. "Sandy signed a DNR just in case Kerry went into heart failure, So she could die peacefully." Abby walked over to Carter and held onto him. Susan looked down to the floor, tears puddling on the ground. Randi took hold of Jerry, Who was crying like a baby. Romano stood there shocked, hiding his feelings. Frank took a seat and closed his eyes. 


End file.
